Lunar Eclipse
by toastytoes
Summary: Edward Cullen had to die. It was simple: a life for a life. He had sworn to love her forever only to betray her, to hand her over to HER-to Victoria. And now, 10 years later, Bella is back in Forks, with no intention of playing nice. Eventual Edwella
1. 00 LAUGH

**Hey all!! **

**So, this is my first story and it's one of those OMG, WHAT IF thingamajigs. **

**As in OMG, WHAT IF Victoria was successful in capturing Bella? And OMG, WHAT IF she had more in mind than just killing our fair protagonist? But OMG, WHAT IF the Bella the Cullens believed dead is back in town? And OMG, WHAT IF a happy reunion is not quite what she has in mind…**

**Disclaimer: obvi… MAN is Meyers gettin' PAID.**

**Please be gentle.**

**_Lunar Eclipse  
_**

**_*****_**

00. LAUGH

I tried to move. I tried to scream. I tried to think.

Nothing worked.

Everything hurt.

I tried to focus on how to escape; I tried to pray for him to save me. And that's when I heard it: the scraping. That noise alone would haunt my sleepless nights forever—the sound of metal on metal, the sound of promised pain—and it pushed raging adrenaline through my frozen veins, burning up my throat, and erupting broken out my mouth.

"Why?"

She didn't respond; she just laughed at me, laughed at my anguish, laughed at my hope. Her laughter drowned out my tears, echoing through my head like a million tinkling bells fluttering in the wind.

So innocent, so beautiful, so sharp.

Every inch of my body convulsed at the sound of her laugh as I bucked and strained against unyielding, unforgiving restraints. My breath raced past chapped lips; my heart fluttered erratically against my heaving chest. The scraping was coming closer and closer.

Pause.

That laugh.

Then pain.

_So much pain_.

I felt her slowly drag the knife across my naked torso, cheerfully teasing my pale skin into tiny, crimson rips. My life ran in rivulets of red down my neck, my breasts, my legs, my toes. Tears streamed down my face, empty of hope. Her razor tongue dug deep into wounds as she drank me—as she drained me. Drained me until I was hollow—until I was nothing. And I just wanted it to be over.

Please.

Come.

Come.

Come.

Come.

Co—When the blade finally slid home, grating like butter past my futile, human ribs to finally break my breaking heart, his perfect face, his cupid lips, his smiling eyes filled my black vision with molten-gold—a gold so liquid, so hot that it seared my body, ravaged my soul, and razed my broken heart.

And as she laughed and laughed and laughed that tinkling little laugh, I screamed and screamed and screamed for my angel who would never come.

***********

**So…please review and lemme know what you think (aka: should I continue procrastinating on my homework??)**

**Marshmallows to all!**

**xoxo,**

**toastytoes**


	2. 01 REBORN

01. REBORN

It was almost a shame her going to waste like this. Almost. She had been a good teacher to me: ruthless, unforgiving, and annoying as hell. It always had to be her way and it always had to be right now. She had no sense of control, no sense of priority. 'Drink now, worry later' was her motto. She seemed more the newborn than me. And enough was enough. Her cavalier attitude and flamboyant feedings would have finished us and I was not ready for my eternity to end quite yet. I had things to do.

I wanted to stay a bit longer—to make sure that the white chunks of marble flesh didn't start crawling back together again, but the stench was absolutely retched to my ultrasensitive nose. So with one final farewell, I saluted a crisp goodbye to bright blue flames licking at the unrecognizable refuse that was once Victoria—my teacher, my creator—and sprinted off into the woods.

I never looked back.

The freedom of running exhilarated me. My legs would push and pulse, my muscles strained to go faster and faster. Fast enough to outrun myself, to outrun the memories. The forest flashed past my periphery, a giant green musky blur. My cream dress streamed behind me like a banner in my wake as the hem whished frantically across my thighs. It whispered to me to go faster.

_So free…_

During my sleepless nights and my tormented days, I would run. Just run and run and run—anywhere, everywhere. It brought air I did not need to the lungs I did not use; it cleansed me; it filled me until I ached at the seams and burst into millions of tiny molecules. I felt renewed and reborn. I could run forever.

Darting swiftly through the trees, I smelled him arrive before I saw him. I heard him think before he spoke in that rumbling hushed mumble, much too fast for a normal human to hear.

Good thing I was no longer human much less normal.

"Is it done, my love?" He asked, falling in step with me.

"Of course. Was there any doubt?"

He grinned at my overt cockiness and I felt my lips tug upwards in response. Liam could always make me smile—at least as much as I could smile nowadays. I think I once could. I know I once could. Flashes of haphazard bronze hair and twinkling topaz eyes flitted across my consciousness, the faint human memories tickling the back of my mind, desperately trying to tell me something, but I pushed them quickly away.

Not now.

Not yet.

_Not ever._

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Liam suddenly surge forward, his legs flying over logs and around trees. I looked in wonder at his beautiful, stone body moving so gracefully through the foliage before barking out a harsh laugh and quickening my own pace to meet his challenge. He may be taller, but I was still faster.

His arms swept me up in a hard embrace and crushed me to his broad chest when he finally caught up to me in the clearing miles away from what was once Victoria. I tolerated it for a moment, my head dropping down to delicately nip the tip his shoulder before I instinctively began to struggle.

_Too close!_

He sighed and gently lowered me to the ground. As always, he tried to mask the hurt in his golden eyes before I could notice, but like I said, I was faster.

My hand sought his larger one while I raised myself on tiptoe to gaze at him. He really was stunning to look at: rich caramel curls that lightly brushed the tip of his ears, high cheekbones that mirrored a sharp, square jaw, and two straight eyebrows perched above the thickest set of chocolate eyelashes I had ever seen.

Bringing my forehead to rest on his dimpled cheek, I let my eyes flutter close against his angular face. "Give me time."

_Please_.

His eyes closed blissfully with mine. "I would wait eternity and more for you."

It was my turn to sigh now. I could hear the unfettering truth in his words and it broke what was left of my heart to break his.

"I know."

I wanted to give him my heart; I wanted to let myself be his mate. I really wish I could. He was a good man and an even better vampire. But what was the use in a tattered, blackened heart? Liam deserved more—more than me and definitely more than my ruined love.

He'll move on.

They all do.

Pushing away from him, but still firmly grasping his hand, I led him to the edge of the clearing. There were a few feet of shrubs and yellow wildflowers littering the ground before the vegetation suddenly dropped away to reveal the twinkling expanse of a small, quaint town.

We stepped to the edge and watched.

Hours passed yet there we stood, hand in hand, like motionless marble statues, listening to the slumbering heartbeats down below until the sun began to crawl across the horizon. The morning wind rustled a sweet and familiar hello through my heavy, brown hair that hung in loose waves down my back. A shiver trickled down my spine in response though I knew I did not feel the cold air on my ivory skin. The time had come.

_Finally._

Liam glanced at me. His wide set eyes were lined with worry and filled with knowing. I smiled at him softly, brushing a loose tendril off his brow, my fingertips lingering on the small crescent shaped scars kissing his hairline. He felt so much; it was not fair. For so long I could not feel anything—nothing but empty anger laced with aimless pain.

So much pain.

I knew I was selfish; that I only stayed with Liam was because he helped me feel. He brought some semblance of happiness back into my burning void—or at the very least contentment. Around him, humanity seeped into my pores and numbed the wounds that would never heal. Around him, I could wrap my broken heart in his deep bass timbre and drown into its never-ending depths. It wasn't the same though.

_The same as what?_

I couldn't answer that question. I didn't know if it meant something—maybe something important.

Maybe not.

What I did know though, was that around him, around my even-tempered, sweet, protective, beautiful Liam, questions like those were quelled and the throbbing ache inside was mollified.

But that was part of his charm and his power. Liam was special, which was why Victoria collected him four years ago during one of our rampaging voyages in Ireland. He was never an ordinary empath even during his human life half a century ago and Victoria could taste his untapped potential. She had to have him, no matter the cost. Good thing Liam had a penchant for self-deprecating brunettes.

But if Victoria had known the impact his presence would have had on me—how he would have changed me—she never would have adopted him into our little family.

Of course, his powers did not quite work on me as they did with other creatures. Unsurprisingly, my human knack of blocking out psychological access to my messed up mind persisted in my vampiric form—kind of. It had changed along with the rest of me. It was stronger, more powerful, and just, more.

Liam could not manipulate my emotions as he could others, but he could still feel what I was feeling or rather not feeling. And that helped: him knowing without me needing to say it. Without me giving it a voice. He just accepted the hollow shell of what I once was, whatever that was; he had hope in me—in us.

Victoria told me that sometimes the transformation process can erase memories, memories we want, _need_ to forget—painful memories. She had filled in the fuzzy spots as best as she could, but there were still gaping holes. What I knew was enough though. I did not want to know more; I did not need to know more. The betrayal ran too deep for my decrepit heart to handle.

And that is where Victoria was the best teacher a vamp like me could want. She was dangerous, fanatical, and persistent—perfect qualities for plotting retribution. Qualities I would need. For if there was one thing that Victoria ever taught me that was worth remembering, it was that revenge is the best way to mend a broken heart.

The corners of my mouth lifted at the delicious thought, but I knew it was not a smile that graced my lips. It was something else entirely; it was something that could send chills even down Victoria's iron spine.

"Forks, here we come."

**So, yeah. End of my FIRST chapter! Yaya! I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long to upload, hope it was worth the wait.**

**Lemme know what you thought please (= review review review)!**

**marshmallows to all~**

**xoxo, **

**toastytoes**


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